The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will not get a fair trial over unrelated sex attacks because the case of the missing girl is too widely known, his lawyers have argued.

Christian Brueckner, a 47-year-old German, is accused of three rapes and two sexual assaults carried out on Portugal’s Algarve coast between 2000 and 2017. 

He is already behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old American tourist in 2005 in Praia da Luz, the same seaside resort where Madeleine went missing two years later.

“Our client has been subject to media attention, he has been accused of kidnapping and killing Madeleine McCann by members of the media and prosecutors, without evidence,” Friedrich Fülscher said in Brueckner’s defence.

“We are not dealing with the worst criminal story of the post-war period but it will be hard for the court to put it out of their minds.”

Portuguese police named Brueckner as an “arguido”, or formal suspect, in Madeleine’s disappearance in April 2022, allowing them to override the statute of limitations and continue investigating the case.

Hans-Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor, told the BBC last year his team is “more sure than ever” that Brueckner is the man responsible for the murder and said that there was “no alibi” for the night she vanished.

On Friday, during the second day of his trial, new details emerged about the crimes Brueckner has been accused of committing.

In one case, a victim was sleeping in her bed in Praia de Luz after a night out when she woke up to find an assailant saying her name and holding a knife to her throat.

After raping her in her bedroom, the attacker then tied her up in the kitchen and sexually assaulted her again, telling her “you’re scared aren’t you.” 

A picture was painted by the prosecution of a methodical, experienced criminal, using condoms which he later flushed down the lavatory and washing his hands each time.

In both cases he allegedly beat the women with a whip after the rapes.

In the case of an unidentified young girl who witnesses claim to have seen on video in his apartment, she was crying and named her assailant as “Chris”, telling him “this is kidnapping, this is rape”.

The film footage is no longer available.

After the charges were read out, Mr Fuelscher said his client would be invoking his right to remain silent.

There are no formal pleas in the German legal system, and defendants are not obliged to respond to the charges.

Brueckner’s hearing was adjourned last week after just nine minutes after Mr Fülscher filed a challenge against a magistrate in the case as she once led a call for the assassination of Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, on social media.

She has been removed from the panel and now faces an investigation on suspicion of making a public call to commit crimes.